FC: Steve Mann's struggles with Verisign and modest Perl proposal

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Thu Jan 02 2003 - 14:35:47 PST

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    [My version of lynx doesn't support https URLs, otherwise I'd join the fun, 
    but FYI... --Declan]
    
    ---
    
    Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2003 17:29:58 -0500 (EST)
    From: Steve Mann <mannat_private>
    To: declanat_private
    Subject: Trying to get a response from Network Solutions (Verisign)
    Cc: mannat_private
    
    Here's something your PoliTech readers might find interesting:
    
    --------included file--------
    
    I've been trying to transfer from the domain name monopoly
    (Netsol/Verisign) to another registrar, but they keep making it harder
    and harder to transfer.  (See http://wearcam.org/verisign/)
    
    I've tried phone calls, faxes, letters, but no luck.
    
    One of the reasons I'm transferring is that I don't agree to
    their Terms and Conditions, and they even have Terms and Conditions to
    "Agree" to in order to terminate service with them.  I was going to
    Ouijagree (e.g. get a bunch of friends to sit around the
    mouse/planchette, and make the spirits of the dead be bound by their
    Terms and Conditions, (href=http://wearcam.org/ouiki/index.htm)
    but I thought another approach would be the following shell script,
    which would hopefully help them get the message that I'd like to switch
    registrars.  If others would be willing to help me in transferring this
    domain, please consider running the following shell script.  If enough
    people run it, perhaps it would get their attention.  I've just finished
    being on "hold" for 2 hours on the telephone, and I'd really rather have
    my computer do the work+waiting, rather than me:
    
    #!/usr/bin/perl
    while (1) {
      $commandstr = sprintf("lynx -dump 
    https://registrar-transfers.com/\?h=bf97ce18c1f368afb106699eea6e802e >> 
    temp.txt");
      ($sec, $min, $hour, $mday, $mon, $year, $wday, $yday, 
    $isdst)=localtime(time);
      $d=sprintf("$sec, $min, $hour, $mday, $mon, $year, $wday, $yday, $isdst");
      $datecommand = sprintf("echo $d >> temp.txt");
      printf("lynx $d\n");
      system($datecommand);
      system($commandstr);
    }
    
    The logfile allows a graph to later be plotted of update frequency as a
    function of time.
    
    This might also form a nice experiment to see if enough requests are
    made, do they get the message?
    
    
    
    
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